


ain't no fool for love songs that whisper in my ear

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Het, Rare Pair, Romance, Set between season one and two, canon character death mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-30 00:19:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10148522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Two months after the singularity, two months after her wedding and Ronnie's death, two months after he stepped back from them, Joe runs into Caitlin at the grocery store.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For the one million words rare pair March challenge   
> Day 4 : running into each other in that aisle
> 
> Title courtesy of Simon and Garfunkel

When he saw her in the aisle of the grocery store, for a moment, Joe was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him, that the latest round of long days and witness statements that didn't add up and a captain that kept trying to foist a new partner on him had finally taken its toll. Then Caitlin's eyes went wide and her face went pale and he knew he hadn't dreamed her into life - if he had, she'd look a damn sight more happy to see him. 

Then something strange happened. Her eyes darted from side to side, looked over his shoulder and, after a few seconds of that, her shoulders relaxed as she exhaled and a smile, small but definite, came to her lips. 

He was smiling back before he realised why she'd done what she'd just done. 

"Please don't tell me you're shopping for ready meals." She stepped towards him and for a second it was as if the last two months hadn't happened. "If Joe West has stopped cooking, the earth is doomed."

He chuckled as he raised his basket. "We're out of milk," he said simply and she raised one eyebrow as she peered inside and saw the bag of mini marshmallows. He folded immediately. "And also hot chocolate."

Caitlin narrowed her eyes. "I thought you were a bourbon man." Something flickered in her eyes, probably the knowledge of just how she knew that, and he changed the subject quickly. Not that the new one was much better. 

"Not me," he said. "Iris." 

Her lips formed a perfect, silent "Oh," and her eyes darkened in sympathy, or perhaps empathy. "When you don't want alcohol and it's too late for coffee." 

He glanced into her basket, saw a tin of drinking chocolate there and he knew he shouldn't, but he smiled anyway. "Yeah." 

"How is she?" 

Joe sighed, ran his hand over his face. "She's getting there. Stays over with us a couple nights a week. Barry..." Her face shuttered but he continued on. "He's not around so much. Out running around, doing his thing, not taking any help from anybody..."

"I know." He must have looked surprised because she shrugged. "Cisco." 

"Ah." He nodded. Then, because there was no point pretending Cisco hadn't carried tales both ways, "How's Mercury Labs?" 

"Good." The smile that lit her lips was genuine in a way he'd rarely seen from her back in STAR Labs. "Doctor McGee put me on something really cutting edge and I like the people I work with..." Her voice trailed off and the smile dimmed and he knew she was remembering the people she used to work with only a few months ago. 

Taking a step closer to her, he dropped his voice. "How are you?" 

Her lips curled shakily as she blinked rapidly. "I'm ok. Getting there." 

"It's only been two months-" He could have told her, to the day and hour, exactly how long but somehow he didn't think he'd need to. 

"I know. And there are days I think it should be easier... I mean, I already buried him once." She kept her voice low. "But those few hours of being his wife... I really thought we were going to get the whole happy ever after." She pressed her lips together, looked up to the ceiling. "I shouldn't be telling you this." 

"Why?" His question got one of those looks in return, a look that said he knew very well why, and he tilted his head in quiet acknowledgement. "I was happy for you," he told her. There was no reproach in his voice, just a simple statement of fact. "You know that. And Caitlin, no matter what we were... what we are... you know... I'm always here for you. You know that, right?" 

It was as close to an admission of his feelings for her as he'd ever come, certainly closer than he'd come that night when she'd come to him, told him Ronnie was moving back to town. He'd seen the happiness on her face, but he'd seen the confusion too and he'd done the only thing he could, the one thing he knew that would make her happy. He'd kissed her cheek and wished her well, stepped aside and let another man waltz her down the aisle. 

He'd even stood and watched her, thought how beautiful she looked, idly wondered what if. 

Then the singularity had happened not long after and it was a different world when all the dust settled. Eddie was gone and Iris needed him. Barry was hardly talking to anyone, consumed with guilt. And Caitlin had left STAR Labs, unable to be there after everything that had happened. 

It had been a long, hard two months. 

"Yeah." Her voice was quiet but her hand reached out between them and his was moving to meet it. Their fingers curled together in a loose hold but a jolt of heat, comfort and familiarity similarly entwined, unfurled in Joe's stomach at the feel of her skin against his. 

He knew he'd missed her. He just hadn't realised how much. 

"You should come by the house sometime. I know Iris would like to see you." 

Even to his own ears, his voice was husky and he feels his cheeks warm. Hers darkened too and she called him straight away on what he wasn't saying. "Just Iris?" 

He was honest with her, knowing that this was not a time for anything else. "No," he admitted. "Not just Iris." 

Her eyes didn't move from his as she took a deep breath, let it out slowly. "Maybe not just yet," she said and he tried not to be too deflated about that. She had her reasons, he still had hope. He could live with that. "But some time... I'd like that." 

His fingers tightened on her hand. "It's an open invite," he told her. "Whenever you're ready." 

She squeezed his hand too but she didn't say anything, although he could see the muscles of her throat working as she swallowed. Sensing that to say any more would be too much, he loosened his hold, took a step back. "I should get going." He held up his basket again. "God forbid I get between Iris and her hot chocolate." 

Her giggle was music to his ear. "It was nice to see you," she said and he grinned. 

"You too." 

Walking away from her was one of the hardest things he'd done but when he got to the end of the aisle, he turned back around, saw her still standing where he'd left her, staring after him. 

He took that memory with him and when his phone chimed that night with a text message, he didn't delay in writing back, hoping that someday would be there more quickly than he thought.


End file.
